{"id":11899,"date":"2024-04-25T17:27:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T17:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=11899"},"modified":"2024-04-25T17:27:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-25T17:27:07","slug":"examining-the-racial-gap-in-home-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/25\/examining-the-racial-gap-in-home-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"Examining the Racial Gap in Home Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tiasia Saunders, Howard University News Service<\/strong><\/em>
\nSpecial to The Truth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Historically, homeownership\u00a0allowed<\/a>\u00a0people to build wealth and assets. Despite this, Black Americans face\u00a0systemic<\/a>\u00a0obstacles that prevent them from becoming homeowners.<\/p>\n

In Roll Call\u2019s\u00a0Equal Time<\/a>\u00a0podcast, Courtney Johnson Rose, PhD, the president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, discussed the importance of owning a home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHomeownership, traditionally, has been a cornerstone for wealth building. When you think about the African American community and the wealth we do have, 60 percent of that comes from home equity,\u201d said Rose.<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0National Association of Realtors<\/a>, homeownership rates increased by 65.5 percent in 2021; however, Black Americans\u2019 homeownership rates have increased by 0.4 percent in the past decade and are 29 percent less than their white counterparts.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Ireland, realtor and owner of the Ireland Group with EXP Realty says that setbacks against Black homeownership are present throughout the housing sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe discrimination is not just in lending, it\u2019s in appraisals, assistance program formulation, etc,\u201d Ireland said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best defense is a good offense. Know your rights, know your values, know what you\u2019re entitled to and then work with people who will help you achieve those goals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would think after almost 60 years since the Fair Housing Act (1968) that we would be further ahead, but we are not. People must be aware of their rights and be willing to report violations when they encounter them,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

A lack of\u00a0access<\/a>\u00a0to federal assistance programs, protection from predatory lenders, and\u00a0redlining<\/a>\u00a0practices are all components of structural racism within the housing system.<\/p>\n

Households of color remain less likely to own their own homes than white households, even after controlling for protective factors such as education, income, age, geographical region, state, and marital status, according to an American Progress\u00a0report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Homeownership\u00a0promotes<\/a>\u00a0wealth building through home value appreciation, which increases over time. In addition, it provides forced savings through mortgage payments, which leads to more home equity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that having homeownership allows one to have control to customize their living situation, it also allows them to create a long-term connection with the community,\u201d said Jomalee Smith, a sophomore political science major from Philadelphia, PA.<\/p>\n

I believe that it is important to be 100% transparent to black people when they are trying to get home repayments,\u201d Smith added.<\/p>\n

Organizations such as\u00a0Habitat for Humanity<\/a>\u00a0work to counter housing discrimination through the development of a racial equity lending strategy, providing funding opportunities and advocacy for policy proposals and legislation for equitable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo start, I was single with two kids and, at the time, I was pursuing my Bachelor\u2019s degree. Habitat for Humanity truly helped me to become a homeowner,\u201d Kimberly Brooks, a special needs counselor from Danville, VA, said.<\/p>\n

Due to systemic obstacles within the housing system, most Black Americans tend to be\u00a0renters\u00a0<\/a>throughout their lifetimes. To promote change, Johnson recommends that Black Americans become knowledgeable about real estate and how to navigate the housing system.<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack people could do anything. In my perspective, we buy homes, we buy real estate, and we create generational wealth. We can do it if given the opportunity and the resources,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Howard University News Service<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tiasia Saunders, Howard University News Service Special to The Truth Historically, homeownership\u00a0allowed\u00a0people to build wealth and assets. Despite this, Black Americans face\u00a0systemic\u00a0obstacles that prevent them from becoming homeowners. In Roll Call\u2019s\u00a0Equal Time\u00a0podcast, Courtney Johnson Rose, PhD, the president of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, discussed the importance of owning a home. \u201cHomeownership, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[227],"class_list":["post-11899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11900,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11899\/revisions\/11900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11899"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=11899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}